


Changelings Like Fast Cars Too

by scrawly_times



Category: Hot Wheels: Battle Force Five, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Stanford Is A Changeling, and that causes many shenanigans?, changeling stanford au, that's it that's the au tag it's the least creative au tag i've ever made, um fuck how to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrawly_times/pseuds/scrawly_times
Summary: Stanford Rhodes? Did not plan on being involved in saving the universe, not when he was originally made to destroy it. Or, at least, to destroy humanity. But then the Trollhunter had to go be his compassionate self and save Stanford's species from the brink of total annihilation so like, okay, he GUESSES he'll do the "right thing". For the Trollhunter. And his newly returned Familiar. And- okay he's got a couple of reasons.Now, how to go about telling the silly humans that there's a monster in their midst... he'll get around to it eventually....probably.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue of Sorts

**Author's Note:**

> hello! if you don't know me, my name is Rai and I'm obsessed with super niche crossover AUs. If you already know me than this fic won't be too much of a surprise :P 
> 
> For those from the Battle Force 5 fandom: There WILL be a lot of Trollhunters references, and as a changeling Stanford may do a lot of things that don't make sense bf5 canon-wise that WILL make sense with the added context from Trollhunters. Otherwise it should be pretty easy to understand! 
> 
> For those from the trollhunters/ToA fandoms: This is PRIMARILY based around battle force 5, and it is a super cute cartoon from the early 2010s that you should TOTALLY go watch bcz it's dorky and hilarious as shit. If you're gonna dive in regardless I commend you and good luck soldier- I'll do my best to keep it from being TOO confusing lol 
> 
> Aaaaand roll the film.

Stanford was, like many other changelings in recent years,  _ very  _ aware of his tenuous place in humanity. The Rhodes family, while legitimately holding ties to the throne, were also… well, a front. A changeling front. Going back hundreds of years of changeling cover after changeling cover. If the Janus Order needed a changeling’s identity remade and put into a new family, the Rhodes family was just one of many that could take them. 

After all the Rhodes family was known for being somewhat eccentric and hiding its many family ties, with plenty of children not even being introduced to the world until their twenty-first birthday. They had numerous shameful bastards and a few could even pop up later in life. Of course, it was all  _ really  _ hush hush and just another thing for the higher class to gossip about. 

In all actuality it was really just changelings gaining new identities and needing a solid backstory. Changelings only ever had one opportunity to grow into an identity and once their human form was grown and not aging, it was time to fake their death and move on. 

The Rhodes family was Stanford’s most recent cover and in fact, he’d only just barely gotten  _ into  _ the family (the changelings who ran it were  _ so  _ picky) when changeling lives worldwide went to shit. Because the Killahead bridge was complete and  _ Gunmar was on Earth, whoopee.  _ Except the Janus Order went suspiciously radio silent for the longest time, and now their human forms  _ didn’t work  _ anymore. 

Oh, and the human race was bizarrely still alive and  _ not  _ eaten by hordes of Gumm-Gumms. That was something to note too. 

Like every other changeling Stanford was busy panicking until the knowledge was slowly spread that changelings stuck permanently in troll form were a result of the Trollhunter doing the impossible and  _ rescuing  _ their familiars. 

Killing Gunmar? Pretty amazing, but Stanford was more interested in the little fleshy human who literally held his heart in its chest. (Killing the infamous  _ Angor Rot  _ was a bit more interesting but again, Stanford had his priorities in line. That was irrelevant.) 

_ “We ask every surviving changeling willing to care for their familiars return to the location where the Killahead bridge was assembled. I’m sure you’re all aware that many changelings did not survive Gunmar’s return, though their familiars remained, and I believe that we as a species should do our best to care for them as their changelings would have.”  _ Stricklander looked exhausted in the video broadcast - and wasn’t he supposed to be  _ dead?  _ \- but pleased, holding a tiny baby in his stone arms. An infant that looked too much like his human form. A baby that he cradled too gently to be anything else.  _ “I have no interest in rebuilding the Janus Order itself. But by request of the current Trollhunter, I would like to create a network of every remaining changeling if only to help return familiars to their proper places.”  _

Of course it was expected that every changeling would take care of their familiar. It didn’t even need to be said - familiars were  _ everything  _ to a changeling. Some didn’t have the emotional depth to raise a human child, and some had little interest in it. Those changelings made partnerships with the ones capable and teamed up to do so. It just made sense. Few even had to discuss it. 

Familiars recently taken enough to still have human family were scoped out and if possible, returned to their human family with one hell of a changeling protector at their backs. 

Most were too old, having been replaced centuries if not millennia ago. Stanford’s was one of the older ones. 

This was his third identity. He was still fairly young, all things said, but he’d had two different identities before. His familiar’s birth family was dead, their descendents not particularly caring. Familiars were rarely picked from loving families to start with. 

So he’d packed his bags and booked it to America as soon as he could, ignoring the Rhodes changelings panicking behind him. If they wanted to lollygag getting their familiars back, let them! Stanford had his human to pick up.

* * *

The instant the little ginger baby was in his arms Stanford was in love all over again. It was hard not to be when the little fleshling had his literal heart in his chest, but Stanford felt like his whole  _ world  _ revolved around the little human in his arms. 

There were plenty of changelings choosing to live in or near Arcadia after that, if only so they could have quick and easy access to Doctor Lake when it became apparent that being a familiar gave the infants some… unintended side effects. Stanford quickly used his ‘family inheritance’ to get a decent apartment and buckled down. 

Babies were hard to take care of. Babies randomly growing stone skin, extra limbs, and horns were even harder.

* * *

“Yanno, you don’t gotta be a parent to the lil munchkin.” The tiny annoying changeling that was  _ constantly  _ getting in everyone’s business popped up while Stanford’s familiar was getting a checkup. 

“What?” Stanford leaned away from the smaller changeling, still caught off guard to see one so small. Most changelings that age were stuck with their familiar’s families nonstop. 

Not to mention a changeling hadn’t been created in a long time. This one was the last ever to be made. 

“I see the way you’re lookin at Stricklander,” The little one hopped up onto the top of the couch, cocking its head at him. “The way he’s all fatherly and parental and crud? Yeah no, that parental stuff’s hard. Lots of changelings cain’t do that stuff. You should do what I do, just choose bein a big brother.” The little changeling puffed up slightly. “Though, course, cain’t exactly claim twinsies like me and ‘Rique, but yous can be brothers still.” 

Stanford looked over at the fussy baby having his horns checked by the one human doctor who did more for his kind in her scant few years than anyone else had in millenia. He looked back to the little changeling who had somehow managed to become a part of his familiar’s family. 

He thought about the past year spending time with Simon and cementing their new relationship as ‘brothers’ for their covers. Simon was an  _ ass  _ of a changeling and an even worse of one as an older brother. 

Maybe it would be nicer to  _ be  _ the older brother for once. 

“...better than what I was planning.” He admitted. “The responsible single father shtick might be appealing, but the devoted older brother bit will definitely be a hit with girls.” Or boys. 

“There we go, that’s the way to do it!” The little changeling laughed gratingly, smacking his arm. “Th’name’s Rico, what’s yours?” 

“Stanford,” He paused and then gave his changeling name as well. “Staunche’fer.” 

“Oof, that’s an odd one. I’m lucky I got me name from a human, heh.” Rico cackled under his breath. “Most changeling names are so  _ weird _ **,** have you heard the big boss’s?” 

“Stricklander?” Stanford raised an eyebrow. 

_“Waltholomew_ Stricklander.” Rico’s grin was wider than his entire face. 

“You’re kidding,” Stanford wheezed. 

From the other side of the living room Stricklander shot them an exasperated look that made Stanford freeze up in fear for a moment, before the human next to him batted his arm and he returned his focus to Stanford’s familiar. 

“Don’t be afraid of big ol’ jerkface over there, he’s a huge softie when Doctor L’s involved.” Rico snickered. “What’s ur kiddo’s name?” 

Stanford tilted his head, ear flicking slightly. “I’ve been considering using… Isaac. His original name has a lot of middle names, and Stanford’s just one of the ones I’ve stuck with over the years. Isaac is another one.” The  _ original  _ name was one of the fancy names that had about eight different titles. Sometimes Stanford forgot about some of them. 

“Isaac, huh? Cute name for a cute kid.” Rico said fondly. “We oughta setup some playdates with him an’ Enrique sometime, if you’re gonna stick around town.” 

Stanford hummed thoughtfully. Humans needed socialization, true. “Fair enough. What’s the party scene look like around here? Troll or human, I’m not picky.” 

“I get the feeling you and I are gonna be  _ great  _ pals.” Rico’s grin was _distinctly_ mischievous.

* * *

Stanford stared at the text on his phone with raised eyebrows. 

“Some big party down in Arizona that I  _ ~absolutely have to~  _ attend?” He meandered over to the playpen where Isaac was chewing on the gate and making dangerous headway. “Sounds bloody suspicious as hell.” 

He picked up his familiar and wiggled a claw in front of him to chew on instead. Isaac accepted it with a happy baby burble that sounded way too innocent coming from something with claws and fangs. 

“What do you think, little monster?” Stanford paced around the apartment, tail lashing. 

Isaac stared at him with wide eyes and Stanford knew he was too young to  _ fully  _ understand these things, but he would swear the little bugger could understand him. 

“Yeah yeah, I know you hate when I leave you behind.” Stanford paced faster. He didn’t bother keeping his claws to himself since he’d already ruined the deposit on this place ages ago. “Still, there’s something off about all this… how’d they get my number?” He checked the number and sent it to a few contacts, asking if anyone knew it. “Plus, all of my party contacts know I don’t do out of towners. Too much hassle with a baby brother to watch after. And that’s a whole state  _ away,  _ plus they’re providing  _ transportation?  _ Sketchy as hell.” 

Isaac hummed and leaned into him, obviously not caring about this. He just didn’t want to be left behind while Stanford went somewhere again. 

“I’ll check it out, I suppose.” Stanford said tiredly. Isaac whined. “Yes, I  _ know  _ little monster, but it’s suspicious and I’ve got…” He hesitated and leaned down to bump his horns into the tiny little nubs that Isaac had. “I’ve got a hunch this is something big.” Stanford sighed. “Well, look at it this way- you can have a long sleepover with the twins again, hm?” 

Isaac burbled out something that may have been a reluctant sigh and Stanford laughed. 

“Let me just call Rico and we’ll get that set up, then I’ll take you to McDonald’s if you promise not to climb to the top of the playset again, hm?” Isaac giggled in a distinctly mischievous way and Stanford growled and tickled him. “Oy, you think that’s bloody funny? You think it’s worth terrorizing the poor saps who already have to explain to their corporate why baby familiars have been eating their playground?” 

The toddler shrieked and flailed, giggling madly as Stanford gently tickled him with the tips of his claws. 

He could leave to investigate the strange party invite later, for now he had a baby brother to spoil.

* * *

A limousine. His provided transportation was a damned  _ limo.  _ If Stanford wasn’t already suspicious he would’ve definitely been by now. Not a party limo either, just a boring black one that screamed  _ trying to be subtle but really failing.  _

Of course once Stanford was in the car he leaned forwards to the blacked out partitioned glass and smiled charmingly. Thank the heavens for convenient human glamour spells, he looked perfectly human. Trolls and changelings were normal in Arcadia Oaks and Arcadia Oaks _only._

“So, gorgeous lady and/or strapping gent, what’s on the agenda for today?” 

No response. 

“...astonishing person?” 

Regardless of what he tried, Stanford didn’t get a single reaction from the driver for the  _ entire five hour drive. _ Either the driver was  _ very  _ good or there wasn’t one. 

He was just about to complain about the lack of rest stops when they started off-roading. 

“Ey!” Stanford clutched his boombox carefully, scowling at the blacked out partition. “Five hours, no bathroom breaks, and you decide to drive us on the bumpiest road known to man? Where the bloody  _ hell  _ are we going?” He didn’t  _ really  _ have to pee just yet - thank the heavens for paranoid changeling planning - but it was still rude as hell. 

He still got no response. Stanford just grumbled to himself and looked out the window, trying to get some sort of idea of their surroundings through the pitch dark glass. It was no use - he couldn’t see through them. 

Stanford was really starting to worry. What was this? Some elaborate human trafficking ring? Debatable, considering he still generally had cellphone service. The only times he didn’t was when it seemed to genuinely be their location causing interference. He shot off a text to Rico anyways just to keep him updated. 

His text took an entire three minutes to actually send. It was another five minutes later than he got a file download that wouldn’t open, along with Rico’s snarky response. Signal was  _ slow _ out here. 

“That better be a pic of Isaac you little shit.” Stanford muttered. 

Regardless, he could still feel his familiar’s steady presence in his chest. Stanford held a hand up to the front of his jacket and mentally poked through the thick fog in the back of his head. 

There was a sleepy acknowledgement, as if Isaac was napping and didn’t want to get up. Stanford shushed him and withdrew. 

As long as he could still sense his familiar, Stanford was okay. Most changelings weren’t so aware of the changeling-familiar connection but a strong knowledge of changeling magic made Stanford more attuned to it. 

“So, anonymous driver whom I have yet to see,” Stanford said loudly. “Any idea when-” 

The whole limousine whipped, the door opened, and Stanford slid out with a loud scream. His boombox followed and narrowly avoided bashing into him on the way out. 

“OY! You could bloody kill someone like that!” Stanford hissed, scrambling up off the hard ground and nearly blind. Blood hell it was bright out here after the darkness of the limo! Where the hell was he?!

He squinted through bright sunlight to see the limousine shutting its own door and speeding away. Abandoning him. 

In a damned desert. 

“That’s just plain rude!” Stanford yelled at the retreating headlights, fists clenched at his sides and nearly bounding off after it; human disguise be damned. 

Then he heard an awkward shuffle and he turned to see four other people looking fairly confused and equally as lost. 

Stanford huffed and picked up his boombox, hoping it wasn’t broken. The thing was an antique! He’d spent  _ months  _ trying to get it from Stu for less than an arm and a leg. 

“Say, uh, any idea where the party is?” Stanford said delicately, hoping to play the idiot card. 

It appeared to work as the various humans around him rolled their eyes or facepalmed.


	2. Every Changeling Wants to be the Good Guy Deep Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes. Saving the world. Human team. Absolutely. Stanford is Totally human. Yes. Entirely. Yup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I 
> 
> COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD THIS CHAPTER MOSTLY WRITTEN FUCKING RIP 
> 
> Anyways thanks for the interest in the 'pilot' prologue chapter lol. We're getting into the meat of canon now!

It was dark,  _ finally,  _ and cooled down enough that Stanford just shrugged and turned his boombox on. He was invited to a party, so he was  _ gonna _ party. 

The others gave him odd looks for it but Stanford wasn’t exactly worried. He could tell this place wasn’t  _ entirely  _ abandoned - tire tracks, plus night approaching meant he could see faint lights in the distance - so he wasn’t worried about their chances of survival like the others seemed to be. 

The group had spent the entire time moaning about being tricked and trying to puzzle out what had happened. They’d all introduced themselves and seemed like an odd, if capable, group of humans. Stanford just kept to himself and checked his phone repeatedly. No signal in the middle of nowhere, sadly. 

He’d just started vibing with the music enough to dance when his hackles  **_rose._ **

Some sort of energy  **_fizzled_ ** through the air, making his hair stand on end. Stanford nearly jumped clear out of his glamour in sheer shock. 

_ “What the hell-”  _ He accidentally bit the phrase out in trollish before realizing he should be speaking english. To no surprise the strange guttural words warranted getting absolutely shocked looks from the humans around him. Damnit! Spend a year without pretending to be human and he was forgetting everything he’d ever learned. Damn Arcadia lowering his guard- 

Before Stanford was forced to answer any awkward questions, a giant fucking portal opened in the middle of the sky. 

Of course  _ his  _ first thought was ' _ Dear stars no, not the Darklands, not again.'  _

His second thought was more along the lines of  _ 'Gunmar’s already dead- stop panicking, fool.'  _

Except instead of trolls or goblins like he expected a damned hotrod launched out with multiple humanoid robots clinging to it like parasites. Stanford stood there, in slight shock, and mentally noted that they didn’t look anything like any of the alien robots he saw around the Tarron twins. Not likely Akiridion, then. 

A human who was remarkably calm for the situation leapt out of the red car and started sprinting towards the still open portal. “Who wants to help me destroy a pack of killer robots?!” 

Well that sealed it. Stanford’s immediate instincts kicked in and he drew a pocket knife from his jacket and launched it straight into one of the robot’s big round target of an optic. He’d aimed for the one directly after the strange human but the guy still tripped when it toppled over onto him. 

Momentum, the biggest enemy of any warrior. Still funny though. 

The humans dispatched the rest of the robots remarkably well, especially the woman with the green sweater. Stanford ended up watching her form with  _ immense  _ appreciation. Especially with the way she’d just ripped the robot’s head off -  _ gorgeous  _ work, really. 

Stanford found himself clapping when the resulting dropkick sent the thing’s head soaring into the still open portal. 

Red, blond, and smoking hot stuck his hand out and closed the portal with a single hand, making Stanford’s head spin. What the hell. 

They all swarmed the man for answers right after, of course.

* * *

“So… let me get this straight, even though I’m not.” Stanford said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He appreciated the snorts and ‘oh same’ ‘big mood’ from the humans behind him. “You tricked us into coming here to save the universe from killer alien robots and alien mutant animal… things.” 

“That is correct.” The glowing blue lady who looked way too similar to the Tarron twins for his comfort of mind said. 

_ And you picked a  _ **_changeling_ ** _ to do this?  _ He wanted to say so, so badly. Because this was literally the biggest, most ironic twist of his  _ life. _ What the fuck. 

“Why us?” Agura asked, fortunately breaking the tension before Stanford burst into hysterical crying laughter. 

“Because each of you brings something unique to the team,” Sage said. Everything she said felt grand and important, it was bizarre to be on the positive reinforcement side of that tone. “And you are the best of the best.” 

While that was flattering, Stanford was beginning to panic. Because she probably expected  _ humans  _ for her team not systematically traitorous mythical creatures who were nearly extinct. And came with a toddler attached. And were, you know,  _ made _ to  _ destroy humanity _ in the first place. 

He was panicking so badly he pretty much ignored their goody two shoes speech about saving the world until he came back to reality to find them all staring at him expectantly. 

“I… don’t think my babysitter’s gonna be able to take care of my brother if I die trying to save the universe, or some crud.” Stanford said faintly, mind racing and trying to put everything together. 

“Baby brother?” Vert raised his eyebrows, while Sage frowned. 

“I apologize, I was… unaware of this complication.” The alien pulled up her floating screens and frowned even deeper at them. 

“You?” Agura looked him up and down and he felt a  _ little  _ offended. Just because he  _ looked  _ irresponsible didn't mean he  _ was.  _ “Why not just have your parents take him for a while?” 

Everything in Stanford halted at that flippant suggestion, suddenly  _ furious.  _ Because the Rhodes had a dozen other familiars in their care who didn’t  _ have  _ changelings anymore, on top of their own. Because the Rhodes didn’t have time to take care of another. Because  _ nobody  _ should be taking care of his familiar except for  _ him.  _

Stanford bit his tongue before he could growl at her, Agura drawing back at the sudden intensity of his glare. 

“He’s  _ my  _ baby brother, and  _ I’m  _ the only one who can take care of him.” Stanford said slowly and firmly to get the point across.  _ Nobody  _ took Isaac from him. The humans all seemed to grow nervous at the declaration, seeming confused at their own wariness. Pull it  _ together  _ Stanford! Stop terrorizing the fleshies! 

But the humans had a point about the whole saving the world shtick. Hell, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that everything about this was inevitable. 

He might’ve been involved in a several millennia long attempt at destroying the human race, but Stanford himself didn’t  _ want  _ humans gone. Like every other changeling his opinion on the matter was too complicated to put into words. Some might hate humans, but Stanford didn’t. He  _ enjoyed  _ humans most of the time. He just… hadn't had a choice, before. Nobody had a choice. 

The determining factor was that Stanford needed a safe home for Isaac. While he had no doubt in his ability to squirrel his familiar away to safety even in the face of the planet’s destruction, Stanford didn’t want Isaac to know the life of constantly living on the run and starving. He’d had enough of it himself. 

It was also the right thing to do, you know, but Stanford like most changelings didn’t consider that enough motivation to actually do it. 

Still… there was a former young human who had saved a thousand familiars for no reason other than it was the "right thing to do". A young human who had every right to hate changelings had still saved them. 

...oh damnit. 

“I’ll give it a test run,” Stanford held a finger up.  _ “If  _ I can figure out a way to take care of my baby brother at the same time.” He made sure to get his sheer reluctance across. 

“I mean, at least you get a cool car?” Vert tried to lift the mood weakly. 

“Meh.” 

Watching the robot arms go to work making weird techy suits for everyone made Stanford ten kinds of nervous, but he used the time to rapidly mutter spells under his breath to make his human glamour more solid. This form was  _ not  _ made to have clothes shoved onto it, much less skintight. 

Sage knew something was up. She kept occasionally glancing at her weird screens and back to him. Not to mention Stanford  _ knew  _ magic was detectable by technology, at the very  _ least  _ as an odd ‘source of energy’. There was no way she didn’t see something in her scanners. 

His glamours at least fooled the humans of the group - and general physics - enough to get the suit on. It was awkwardly tight in the worst ways but Stanford was willing to put up with it. It was far from the worst thing he'd ever done. 

You would think hundreds of changelings losing their human forms and being revealed to humanity a year or so ago would’ve outed trolls and magic as a whole, but no. Most had managed to slip excuses and get to cover before being seen. The ones that had- well, changelings were masters of bribes, death threats, and blackmail. 

Humans that did know were rapidly becoming the newest Conspiracy Nuts of the decade. It was hilarious and teasing the aware humans was absolutely most changelings' new favorite game to play. 'Mess With the Fleshies' was probably not helpful but after centuries or more of being told what to do, most changelings didn't care. 

Arcadia Oaks on the other hand was well known as a town filled with eccentricities at this point but most people seemed to generally be willing to pass 'mysterious stone monsters' off as just another weird tourist town. Trolls did their best to avoid the streets to start with but out of towners rarely came through these days. 

Humans, ridiculous really. Willing to excuse away anything no matter what evidence there was if they didn't want to believe it. 

The point was, Stanford was  _ not  _ about to tell these random humans what he was right off the bat. Not happening. Not until he knew for sure that he wasn’t about to be attacked or booted out. Because humans didn't like things that weren't _ like them.  _

And changelings weren't exactly cuddly and friendly to start with. 

“Stanford, your expertise with soundwaves and deadly accuracy makes you the team’s artillery expert.” 

Artillery, huh? Deadly accuracy? Stanford could live with that. He flipped his pocket knife in one hand smugly, resolving to sharpen the edges that had been blunted by heading into a robot’s face. 

He paused his flipping. How had she figured ‘expertise with sound’? What the hell? He was a master of sound and vibration based spells but there was… no way for her to know that. 

He looked at the alien warily and she nodded slightly. Something was definitely up. 

Sage, unfortunately, was going to have to get her answers sooner rather than later. No way Stanford was going to be able to hold up a space-bending glamour long enough to squeeze into his newly named Reverb for potentially hours-long missions. He needed an in to help figure out the patterns he would need to build here. 

Plus, she already seemed to know Something so it was better to just rip the bandaid off to an alien who wouldn't get the same oomph from the whole "magic monster" thing. 

Oddly enough, peering into the insides, Stanford noted that it was… oddly spacious in the seating area. As if the Sentient tech could tell he was bigger than he looked. It wasn't quite perfect, seemed a little… unfinished; but it distinctly had more space than Stanford's human shape would need. 

Curious.

* * *

While everyone else headed to go get pizza, Stanford stayed behind. He gave the excuse that he had to call his babysitter and get someone to take care of Isaac for a longer period of time. 

Truthfully he just called Rico and said this whole 'party' was going about as expected, but with more aliens. Rico somehow managed to make the shrug emoji noise out loud and hung up, assuring him Isaac was doing good. 

The Nuñez's didn't mind Enrique having a 'sleepover buddy' for a few days. Despite his lackadaisical attitude Rico made for a damn good sitter and could keep even chaotic familiars under control. It helped that he actually had two adult humans who accepted the changeling into their family alongside his familiar. Made it easier to manage the bizarre hiccups of a baby that grew extra limbs and claws. 

That taken care of, Stanford put his phone away and turned to look out of the garage door. There was no signal down below so he had to go up to ground level to get a call out. 

Nothing was keeping him here. Nothing would stop him if he just walked out that garage door and booked it back to Arcadia Oaks, to safety and comfort and confusing changeling politics. 

Stanford thought about Isaac and his giggly enthusiasm when Toby babysat familiars and told stories about superheros. The excitement in his familiar when Rico told the story about how he rescued all of the familiars in one fell swoop. The absolute ecstatic  _ energy _ his little brother had when the Trollhunter stopped by and took time to play with the children. 

He sighed. 

Stanford turned around and walked back into the elevator. For Isaac. 

And  _ only _ for Isaac. 

...and maybe, just a little bit, for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stanford's super bi if that wasn't obvious. Idk who - if anyone - I'll ship him with, but we'll see how the story goes! Changeling Stanford may not even want to pursue a relationship with humans anymore 
> 
> I figure that Stanford is *really* good with magic, though he's not the Most experienced. Changeling magic has a lot of hcs for me jshfhsjgf but he specializes in sound and using it as a weapon. How exactly does he do that? Oh you'll see :) Any changeling that uses magic regularly masters at least basic illusions 
> 
> STANFORD IS FREAKING OUT. HE'S PANICKING. He's not supposed to be a hero. He's not supposed to be nice. He's not sure how he's going to do this at ALL 
> 
> But he's still gonna fuckin do it


	3. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stanford and Sage have a... chat. Stanford gets some new digs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyy I had most of this typed up for a while, but had some trouble writing Sage and figuring out how tf to make this interaction go down. He's paranoid. She's blunt af. I'm not entirely sure how to write first episode Sage. Fun times. 
> 
> I do like how it ended up though, and I hope y'all do too!

"So, I'm guessing we need to talk." Stanford exited the elevator with crossed arms, prepared for war. 

"That would be preferred, yes." Sage said without preamble, tilting her head at his hostility. "You have no need to be on guard, Stanford." 

"That remains to be seen…" Stanford grumbled. "Before I start, what've you figured out?" He watched the alien closely. Sage was almost completely unreadable. She didn't  _ have  _ similar tells to any other species he'd come across but he felt better keeping an eye on her busy fingers. 

Sage swept an arm through the air and numerous screens floated through the air, displaying data in Sentient characters. A quick flick of her hand and it translated to English. He almost flinched at the abrupt motions. There was no tensing of muscles to warn him, no minuscule twitching to tell him what she was going to do. 

"Your visually apparent body mass index is far too small for the data my scans have collected." Sage said nonchalantly. "Said scans are incomplete, for some reason I cannot identify, but they indicate you should at least be a… human measure of a foot taller and about…" She tilted her head to calculate that with something close to a frown. "Twice the weight you appear, or more." 

Stanford looked at the screens curiously. His image was fuzzy, as if her scanners couldn't get a good shot of him. The boxes displaying her scanners' info kept glitching and flipping between numbers. 

"Furthermore, you've been letting off inconsistent energy readings of a like I have never seen." Sage seemed more interested than confused - from what little he could read from her - which was the  _ main _ thing throwing him for a loop right now. "Before your battlesuit was applied the energy readings went up by a noticeably sharp margin." 

Stanford scratched his chin. "Damn, must've put way too much into that. Should've been more careful…" 

Sage tilted her head curiously but did not comment. It was odd to see obviously human mannerisms copy pasted onto something that wasn't used to it. "The final oddity I recorded was the fact that the Reverb adjusted itself to a being not of your size." Stanford looked at her sharply. So that  _ wasn't  _ her work? She noticed his confusion. "The power modules adapt to their drivers, creating a vehicle entirely unique to the purpose and needs of the user. I have no input on the build that the module creates; the cars are perfectly sized for their individual drivers. If you were to sit in the Saber, for instance, it would be somewhat uncomfortable as the seat is sculpted purely to Vert's proportions. That the Reverb contains far more space than necessary for a human male of your proportions is highly indicative of more going on that I am unaware of." 

Sage remained calm and factual throughout her entire speech, despite the rising anxiety in Stanford. 

"Well." He said poorly. "That's… all certainly logical." Stanford sighed and slumped slightly. "Let me start this with: humans have  _ no idea  _ what's on their own planet." Sage tilted her head slightly. "Seriously. There's other alien visitors, magic, monsters, all kinds of crazy things. And most humans think they're just fictional, with no idea they're real." He explained carefully, aware Sage likely had little of the contextual background on 'magic' that humans would. 

"Preliminary research indicates magic is fictional yet highly contested as such, yes." Her eyes blinked and Stanford wondered just how fucking fast she could Google. "You are stating that magic is real?" 

Stanford nodded, relaxing somewhat. First hurdle down. "Right. But it, and everything associated, is a helluva lot different than media or legend thinks. That energy you're picking up on? That's my magic, disguising me." 

Sage seemed to perk up in sheer curiosity. "It evades my attempts to scan it, leaving my results inconclusive." 

"That's because it's changeling magic." Stanford didn't flinch, no matter how bad he wanted to. Changelings didn't just  _ tell someone  _ they were a changeling. It went against everything he was. "Other types of magic are easier to pin down, but not changeling magic. It's slippery." 

Sage poked around her scans a few times and the images of him cleared up as she spoke. 

"Considering it as indeed a form of energy but with a margin of fluidity and resistance to identification, that allows me to map the variations of energy fluctuation…" 

Stanford stared with wide open eyes while she typed and manipulated the floating screens at high speed. Even the other alien species he'd come into contact with couldn't pin down changeling magic. It was literally so unpredictable the rigid nature of technology couldn't map it down. Just  _ detecting  _ it could be an issue. 

But here Sage was, creating a faint outline of his changeling form based on an offhand comment. Then again the Sentients apparently made the universe… with that in mind, he should really stop being surprised right now and save himself the trouble later. 

"It's- um. Yeah." He would deny his voice cracking. "That. That thing, uh, keeps me looking human because humans aren't… aware that we exist, and my species hasn't precisely been the friendliest over the centuries." Stanford said faintly, trying to get them back on track. 

"Is this accurate to your true form?" Sage asked, showing the screen with a faint 3D model on it. 

While not outright identifiable as his troll form, it was a decent outline of a large figure with horns and fur in odd patches. Terrifyingly familiar actually. 

"Um- frighteningly close, actually?" His voice went up a few pitches and Stanford coughed, clearing his throat. "How about I just… show you." 

He fidgeted briefly with the studded bracelets around his wrists and took them off, Sage immediately paying strict attention to her screens as beeps started going off. 

"Just um… a bit of an explanation, I suppose?" Stanford said as he awkwardly took out his earrings. "Magic that  _ lasts  _ needs either physical objects to latch onto, or a lot more bloody power than I've got to keep it going." The visual images of his energy readings and scans changed with every piece of jewelry removed. It was kind of fascinating to look at from this end, really. 

"That would explain the single consistency with the erratic readings." Sage bobbed in the air almost happily, he'd say. "Your necklace?" The screen showed it as the highest concentration point of energy. Damn. 

Stanford touched the choker necklace, the final chunk of his glamour, and sighed. He took it off quickly to get it over with. 

Purple stone, painstakingly shined to a gleaming polish. Long, thick arms made for climbing and striped with angular carvings. Thick claws that could punch through steel. Deeper, sharper carvings on his hands and feet that made it easier to climb. 

Stanford gave in to the urge to stretch, his red scruff and fur bristling as he arched his back. He hadn't had a chance to brush it since the car. His tail flexed behind him as he stretched the cramps out. Glamours always made him so  _ stiff. _

He was much taller than Sage now and looked her over warily. The Sentient was more interested in flipping through her screens, peering at him every now and then. 

"What is your species called?" She asked pleasantly. 

"...changelings." Stanford flinched away as a much brighter, more obvious scan tried to go over him. 

"Fascinating." She sounded somewhat awed. "You are mostly made out of a silicate mineral, animated by energy sources I cannot comprehend. However… your heart." Sage turned from her screens to look at him with something that might've been concern. "Your heart, and much of your thoracic cavern and internal organs, are organic in nature." 

"Congrats, you've figured out in two seconds what takes most creatures absolute ages." Stanford picked at his elbow tuft idly, trying to ignore the submerged panic trying to scream that he was about to be dissected and experimented on. Again. "Changelings are originally trolls, magical creatures made out of stone. We… gain those "organic" features in order to… well, for a lot of things." Stanford ran his claws over his horns. 

How to even begin explaining the complexities of changelings to an alien?  _ Without  _ telling her too much? At least the Tarrons learned about  _ trolls _ first. And Stanford wasn't even  _ involved _ in telling them. (That was the key difference here. Stanford wanted nothing to do with having to tell Sage about evil shapeshifting monsters that sometimes eat people and kidnapped babies.) 

Sage fortunately didn't seem too bothered by his vagueness, merely humming and typing more down. 

"Listen, Sage." Stanford crossed his arms and set his stance firmly. "I'm going to be something I almost never am: direct and to the point. I don't trust you." 

That made her pause. A slight twitch to her expression. 

"Why?" 

"Because I'm a changeling and we're paranoid motherfuckers." He let out a growling laugh. "Everything on this planet has tried to kill me and mine, and I've tried to do the same back. I don't trust  _ anything.  _ And there's nothing more foreign to me than telling some ancient alien all my secrets." 

"Then why reveal yourself to me?" She was smart, and fast. Sage lowered her screens to look Stanford in the eyes. Even if she had to float a bit higher. "You did not have to. You could have lied, or left. You did not even have to join the team. I believe you don't  _ want  _ to, even. So why?" She wasn't accusing and that was what actually soothed his ruffled fur a bit. 

He took a deep breath. 

"Because I still need a planet to live on, and because nobody goes through the trouble you have to father us if it's not serious." He wanted to chew on something to get the aching tension out of his jaw. "Because I'm not telling the rest of the team yet, because they're dumb humans who won't believe in magic or shapeshifting monsters or things that go bump in the night. And if I'm going to keep it from  _ them,  _ I'll need  _ someone  _ on my side. And you seem logical enough to understand my reasons." 

Stanford's claws dug into the nanite built floors and he tried to keep his tail from lashing into it too. The last thing he needed was to crack the floor (or the horned clubs on his tail, it  _ was _ made from alien metal). 

His entire body was taut and ready to bolt. Even his ears were perked and ready for the incriminating words that would mean he had to leave and  _ never  _ come back. 

Sage was quiet for a very,  _ very _ long minute. 

"You have said before that humans are unaware of changelings' existence. Is this why you will not inform your team of your true form?" Sage frowned lightly. 

"It's a bad idea." Stanford bit out sharply before catching himself. "Humana and trolls have too much bad blood, even if the humans don't remember, and human and changeling relations are even worse. The only thing worse than  _ that  _ is changeling and  _ troll  _ relations." Stanford grumbled under his breath. "So, no, I don't plan on telling the team just yet. Maybe in the future if I'm sure they won't blow their tops." Which was  _ highly _ doubtful. "Otherwise, I'm not risking them deciding that  _ I'm  _ the enemy." Because he  _ was.  _

The sentient seemed to deliberate on that for a few minutes before nodding reluctantly. 

"I bow to your greater knowledge of human customs and mannerisms, but know that a team cannot function with secrets held between its members." Her calm gaze seemed to dig into his skin and into the pit of long dug guilt that every changeling buried deep down and purposefully forgot about. "Please inform them as soon as you feel safe. I will be there to ensure whatever support you may need." 

Stanford's breath caught in his lungs. Her factual declaration, as if she would do whatever it  _ took _ to keep him safe, made something in his chest  _ hurt.  _ So bad that he felt a questioning nudge from Isaac that he softly brushed aside. 

"Thank you." He said softly. 

"You are welcome, Stanford." There was a faint hint of what might be a smile. "I am curious about your tail," Sage said as if she hadn't just dropped a bomb on his paranoid, needy changeling sensibilities. "To my knowledge, tails of that size make sitting in vehicles more difficult. Will you need further accommodation?" She looked to the Reverb and a schematic of the vehicle pulled up. She frowned. "It would appear the vehicle module did not adapt to your true form  _ entirely,  _ likely due to the interference of your disguise." 

It took him a moment for him to gather himself after the emotional turmoil of that emotionless conviction. Ironic. 

"Glamour," Stanford croaked, feeling an odd urge to correct her. 

"Glamour." She made another note. 

"And yes, if it's… alright, I'd like to do that scan again without my glamour in the way." Stanford's horns sure itched an awful lot. Honesty was  _ not  _ becoming of him. 

"Certainly." Sage nodded and the wires flared towards him and began to swarm. 

Stanford had to resist the sheer fight and flight alarms that went off in his head, arms stuck out and trembling with suppressed energy. His brain said to rip the offending machines in half and flee before anything happened. The rest of him was firmly trying to browbeat that reflex into submission. 

"Are you alright?" Sage waved her hand, the machines freezing. 

"Peachy." He hissed, a high pitched growl in his voice. 

Sage stared at him and didn't react for a solid minute that got more and more awkward as the seconds ticked by. He eventually realized she looked like she was rather confused and was trying to puzzle out how to react. 

"Changelings don't  _ do  _ this, love." Stanford said tightly. "We don't _ do  _ the whole 'saving the world' shtick, we don't _ do  _ showing off our true forms to anyone willy nilly, and we  _ especially  _ don't do letting weird machines poke and prod our troll forms like they're going to  _ dissect _ us." His claws scraped together nervously. "I'm trying to fight back every bloody instinct that tells me to bite this thing off and run the fuck out the door. So just get it over with before I end up doing that." 

Sage looked at him, emotionless, before waving her hands and letting the wires go back to work. They were quick and efficient as they recreated his battlesuit onto his true body instead of the illusion. 

"Does your glamour produce a spacial effect?" She said, out of nowhere. 

"Only if I need it to." He said without thinking. "It's hard, and energy intensive, so I usually don't." 

"That explains how your first battlesuit was listed as incomplete, though it visually appeared to be complete." Sage seemed genuinely interested. "It's fascinating." She said, faintly awkwardly. "But as it appeared complete and you did not say anything, I intended to confront you about it later. Without the shock absorbing properties of the battlesuits a human body will not easily adapt to the forces stormshocks and Sentient vehicles are capable of. Though I suppose now that will be less of a concern." 

Stanford found himself laughing genuinely. "No, love, I'm considerably tougher than any human. Not as tough as a troll, but still more than a human by far." 

Her gentle questioning of his glamour and how it worked made the process zip by and before Stanford knew it he was sitting there and admiring the purple matte of the battlesuit. It was very skintight but flexible, edges wrapping around his furlines and not even attempting to cover it. If it  _ had  _ tried to cover his scruff he would have definitely protested. 

Stanford tested the edges of the suit. Where they met his furlines were bright borders that didn't give under his claws. When he whipped his tail the thin, plated sections of the suit flexed perfectly. 

"Bloody wonderful old gal. I don't think clothes have  _ ever  _ been this comfortable in troll form." Stanford admitted. His pants and cloth weren't very comfortable, though functional, and he could never tolerate a shirt before since they always pressed his scruff down uncomfortably. 

The solid plate across his chest, protecting the scar on his chest, made his throat tight in a weird way. 

"Absolutely wonderful." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's real fun writing someone who's an expert at reading people try to read a literal alien they have no idea how to read. Stanford's nearly jumping out of his skin just from how little body language she gives off. It's unnerving as shit to him
> 
> While I think most technology is trumped by changelings, Sentients apparently Made The Universe. The only reason she can't pin him down immediately is just because she has no idea what she's dealing with. 
> 
> I also think it's interesting to consider the implications of telling a human - who has cultural and fictional reference in mind about magic, changelings, and trolls - about such things, versus telling an alien about those things. Sage has zero background context for what he's telling her. 
> 
> The entire time they talked imagine Stanford is one of those puffed up cats about to claw the shit out of something 
> 
> Also have fun this Entire Thing was me having fun with how magic and glamours work. Magic is just energy! The only difference is the way in which you can use it. Also, So Many hcs on how changelings work. 
> 
> Adopt the skittish cat Sage, you know you want to

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter's mostly just a warmup to help get any background established without straight up diving into bf5 canon. Also, because I love the idea that Rico (NotEnrique, if you didn't guess) and Stanford are both Ultimate Party Bros who are surprisingly responsible with their little brothers/familiars. But they still party hard. 
> 
> After this chapter it'll mostly be bf5 for a while! 
> 
> Thank you guys a ton for reading! I've got a trollhunters tumblr that i'm also using for bf5 stuff @weregreatatcrime if you wanna come check out some visuals for changeling Stanford and Isaac.


End file.
